Apache Gold (1963)

Lex Barker is Old Shatterhand, an engineer who arrives in the West to discover that his planned route for the railroad — one that skirted the Apache territory — is being ignored.

Instead, Frederick Santer (Mario Adorf) and Bancroft (Branco Spoljar) are routing the rails right through Apache country. Their goal: To save time and money, money they can pocket.

Besides, Santer is obsessed with learning the whereabouts of the Apache gold, a secret location known only by Chief Instschu-tschuna and his son Winnetou (Pierre Brice).

The slaying of Kelkih-petra, a white man who has long lived with the Indians, puts the Apache on the warpath.

And while Winnetou has agreed to give Old Shatterhand eight to 10 days to clear the railroad from Apache land, little goes as planned.

By the time the shooting is over, Old Shatterhand and his friends are captives of the Apache, facing a future of torture and death, much to the dismay of Nscho-tschi (Marie Versini).

She’s the sister of Winnetou and the daughter of the Apache chief. But she’s also helped nurse Old Shatterhand back to heatlh, and fallen in love with him in the process.

Review:

This film followed The Treasure of Silver Lake (1962) as the second of the Winnetou series, but takes us back to the start of the story of how he and Old Shatterhand became friends.

The first half of the film focuses on the Apaches’ attempt to drive the railroad off their land and concludes with a rousing, large-scale action sequence.

The second half finds Old Shatterhand a captive of the Apaches with a date for death and focuses on how he and Winnetou became blood brothers.

Of course, Santer survives the first half of the film to continue his villainous ways and his quest for the Apache gold in the second half.

There’s some of the silliness you’ll find in all these films, but this is a better than average Winnetou outing.

As for that silliness — Old Shatterhand balks at setting a saloon on fire for fear of harming hostages. Instead, he decides to drive a locomotive through it, bringing the building tumbling down. Hostages be damned, I suppose.

Directed by:
Harald Reinl

Cast:
Pierre Brice … Winnetou
Lex Barker … Old Shatterhand
Mario Adorf … Frederick Santer
Marie Versini … Nscho-tschi
Walter Barnes … Bill Jones
Ralf Wolter … Sam Hawkens
Mavid Popovic … Instschu-tschuna
Dunja Rajter … Belle
Chris Howland … Lord Jefferson Tufftuff
Branco Spoljar … Bancroft
Hrvoje Svob … Klekih-petra
Tomislav Erac … Tangua
Demeter Bitenc … Dick Stone
Huan Cokic … Will Parker
Niksa Stefanini … Bullock
Ilija Ivecic … Joaquin
Teddy Sotosek … Randolf
Vlado Krctulovic .. Harvey
Antun Nalis … Bartender icks
Ana Kranjcec … Vollmond
Dusko Dobudj … Black Eagle
Sime Jagarinac … Apache

Runtime: 108 min. (98 min.)

aka:
Winnetou
Winnetou the Warrior
Winnetou I

Music: Martin Bottcher

Memorable lines:

Sam Hawkens, inspecting the surveyor’s hands following a barroom brawl he won despite being badly outnumbered: “I think we’ll call you Old Shatterhand.”

Santer to Winnetou: “Since when do you dirty Indians give orders?”

Klekih-petra to Old Shatterhand: “You must save Winnetou. And be brothers.”

Tangua: “As sun rises, Winnetou will curse the day he was born. He shall burn on stake long time.”
Santer: “Look, before he dies, find out where the gold of the Apaches is hidden.”

Nscho-tschi: “(He) who does not prevent injustice is as bad as the guilty man — the code of the Apaches.”

Trivia:

French-born Marie Virsini was 24 when the film was released wrote an autobiography in 2003 and later collaborated with her husband, Pierre Viallet, on a 2008 novel called “Riddles About N.T.” It ponders the question of what would have happened if Nscho-tschi hadn’t died so young.

Nscho-tschi’s final words to Old Surehand are “Anika ti matan” — I love you. Actress Marie Virsini recalls shooting that scene on her very first day of filming for the movie.

Pierre Brice later recalled that the “blood brother” scene in Apache Gold took quite a while to shoot because he and Barker kept breaking up laughing over the term. “Every time we wanted to shoot again and say ‘My Brother,’ we had to start laughing again,” he recalled.

In a 2009 interview, Marie Virsini says director Harold Reinl planned to use a double for the scene in “Apache Gold” where her character Nscho-tschi rides off to fetch a piece of evidence that could clear Old Surehand’s name. Lex Barker helped teach her how to ride without a saddle so she could do the scene herself.